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The MoparWiki has the goal of ultimately being the single best source for All Things Mopar. Makes, models, people, platforms, components, racing -- anything Mopar. This is to be accomplished by the collaboration with anyone wishing to improve a MoparWiki with facts or editing for style.

About MoparWiki

MoparWiki was created and is administered by Dave Schultz. The engine running the MoparWiki is the same engine used for the very popular [www.wikipedia.com Wikipedia]. It allows for any registered editor to start an appropriate article, and for other registered editors to collaborate on the improvement of it. We try to follow a uniform format for consistency. You can get to a Wiki of a specific topic by typing the topic in the search box -- or clicking on a link frond in another Wiki. There are links for a random page, recently updated, or help in the left sidebar. Please take a few moments to read further -- and to browse around. We hope you will assist us with collaborating on existing MoparWikis, from adding appropriate facts (and your reference source) or cleaning up the text and styling.

Walter P. Chrysler was a native of Kansas, and cut his teeth on railroading. He was the son of an engineer on the Kansas and Pacific Railroad, and was always fascinated by machinery. As a young man, he built his own working railroad model, machining his own tools in the process. When he was 17, he signed on at the Union Pacific shops as an apprentice, for a nickel an hour. Mechanical engineering became young Walt Chrysler's life, not his profession.

After he got his journeyman's certificate, he took a job in the Rio Grande & Western roundhouse in Salt Lake City. He got married and began studying with the International Correspondence School. He steadily moved up through the industry.

After a bit of time, the superintendent of motive power of the whole Chicago & Great Western system was a new man named Chrysler. "W.P." they called him. During his Great Western period Mr. Chrysler lived in Oelwein, Iowa. His mechanical curiosity was piqued by the new ‘horseless carriages’ he’d see traversing the town streets.

He went to the 1905 Chicago automobile show, where he saw a beautiful auto that he had to have. It was called a ‘Locomobile’. The price was $5,000 cash. Chrysler had only $700 in the bank, but that did not hold him back. He borrowed $4,300 and shipped it home. He spent months with his first car, tearing it down and reassembling it several times before he even learned to drive it! Chrysler decided that when the time was right, he would need to improve these things.

At 33, machinist/manager WP joined on with the American Locomotive Company, where he swiftly rose through the ranks. He was assigned to the position of Assistant Works Manager at the sprawling ALCO Pittsburgh plant, which he quickly transformed into a moneymaker. It was in this position that WP was first noticed by one of the directors of ALCO, James J. Storrow, who would soon the president of General Motors.

James Storrow, the president of GM, remembered the young Chrysler, and introduced him to Charlie Nash, then the president of Buick. After touring the Buick works, Nash could offer WP only $6000 a year, half of WP’s $12000 a year ALCO salary. Chrysler did not even hesitate! He immediately accepted the Buick position.

It was 1911, and Walter P. Chrysler was in the automobile business!

Over the next few years, WP built Buick into a power to be reckoned with, with Nash at the helm. In 1916, however, William Crapo Durant used the power of his upstart Chevrolet Company to leverage the presidency of General Motors. Nash would not be welcome under Durant, and Nash and Chrysler were a team.

Nash purchased another auto manufacturer, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and created the Nash Motors Company, which would later become American Motors. It was assumed that Chrysler would join him at the helm of this new company. Read More

Each Registered User gets his own User Page that he can update with his information, so that visitors to the site get an idea of who the people collaborating on the MoparWiki are. This Page can also be used as your personal web page, which you can link in your signature on forums, or included on your personal business cards (500 at Vista Print for $10).

But most importantly, a User Page is a place where you can practice and perfect your editing skills before taking on major changes of the creation of a wiki. MoparWiki encourages you to become a registered member, to spend a little time playing around with creating your personal User Page, and then to jump in and collaborate on the Wiki pages needing improvement. Read More

Because of recent spam attacks on Mediawiki sites by the tens of thousands of spammers concerned with the length, girth and hardness of our Johnsons, we have had to temporarily disable new registrations and editing until measures can be taken to ensure there is no further vandalism of this site. We apologize for the assholes out there that don't have better things to do, and will find a work around soon. Meanwhile, there are still thousands of MoparWiki pages containing a wealth of information.